Green Bay Packers understand need for upgrading receivers
If the Green Bay Packers are finally to get back to the Super Bowl, they know they must give quarterback Aaron Rodgers some help.
It’s clear to Matt LaFleur: the Green Bay Packers need to add.
LaFleur, entering his third season as the Packers head coach, realizes the situation his team faces. After two straight seasons of being the NFC’s No. 1 seed and yet failing to reach the Super Bowl, it’s about getting over the proverbial hump.
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Yet this offseason, Green Bay has seemingly taken a step back. Over the past 10 days, Green Bay traded away All-Pro receiver Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders while also watching Marquez Valdes-Scantling sign a three-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency.
Now, with free agency largely dried up and the NFL Draft looming, the Packers have to find replacements for MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to target. On Tuesday, LaFleur spoke to the media at the NFL Owners Meetings in Florida and gave his thoughts on a litany of topics, including helping the younger receivers along, per ESPN.
“I’ve witnessed it. It’s a process, like everything is. And the more time that we can get those guys out on the field and put ’em in certain situations to allow them to kind of learn and grow, hopefully we can be creative in ways we can expedite that process. So, I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting.”
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Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst can also consider a few older options still on the market in receivers Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr., although the latter is coming off a torn ACL in the Super Bowl.
The good news for Gutekunst is also found in Green Bay’s draft capital. While trading Adams leaves a huge hole in the offense, it also brought in first and second-round picks from the Raiders. Those selections, combined with the Packers’ own, could provide them with a few receivers in the top-60 overall selections, giving Rodgers new blood to mold alongside veterans Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb.
If Green Bay is eventually going to reach another Super Bowl before Rodgers either declines sharply or retires, it’ll need to have a quality draft in April. That mission begins with adding a premier weapon much like the one the Packers traded away, hoping to identify a similar talent at a cheap cost.
It won’t be easy, but Green Bay needs to accomplish the feat or suffer the consequences.
